Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I have participated in a number of meetings of that nature, which were organised in conjunction with the European Commission office and European Movement Ireland, and they were hugely beneficial. I am very much open to further meetings but our resources are limited. The entire budget for the communicating Europe initiative in the Department of the Taoiseach is €150,000. It is negligible in the context of the amount the previous Government spent on the same initiative, which, sadly, was not all that effective. We face a huge challenge and we have a minute budget to get the message across. I have, along with my ministerial colleagues, including the Tánaiste, put in endless hours to communicate what is happening. I have asked that a small group be established in the Department of the Taoiseach to explore ways in which we can communicate better with the public. I have made one simple proposal, although I am not certain if we can find the funding for it, which is to send a leaflet to every household in the country explaining the contents of the fiscal compact. That would be useful and I am committed to delivering on that, but I must find the funding in my Department to do that.

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